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>>> Tommy G Robertson was SFOMA's Park first Director of maintenance. My Dad was Maintenance Manager under Tommy. In 1977 Tommy moved to Great Adventure after the acquisition of that Park. In the 80's Tommy moved back and was promoted to VP. Tommy just died about 6 months (?) ago. Tommy was loved by his employees. My Dad was promoted to DOM and New Construction after Tommy left. Dad and Tommy worked together on Screamin Eagle. That is how I got to ride Train #2 from the station on first run and how I met Mr. Cobb and Mr. Allen. I have a picture (somewhere) of the Eureka on the flat bed trailer when it arrived in 71. The green train was named Lil' Rock. My first year at SFOMA I lubricated the Train(s) every other day. Learned a lot about Propane fueled steam driven Trains. Good days!

At this point, "we'll actually be open every day in June like we told everyone for months" would be a big announcement.

We went to the park yesterday and had an awesome time. We met up with JRice, El Toro_Ryan and some of their friends and for the first time in years got Platinum Flash Passes and got to act like ballers in our home park. I won't make a habit of that but it was a blast, and we did have some free one-time upgrades with our passes that we got to use. Just a few cliff notes: - We got to watch a few Jersey Devil Test runs. The ride hauls ass. It hauls so much ass that we watched it throw a test dummy into the woods. They clearly weren't concerned as they kept cycling it with one empty seat... I guess as a sign of respect for their fallen comrade. - Wonder Woman's loading process is no longer atrocious! They're loading all seats, which means that the only ride not back to it's normal loading procedure is Log Flume which hopefully stays that way forever. - On that note, I rode the flume for the first time in years since we normally only go to this park very early or very late in the season and because we hate it's grouping process of cramming as many strangers as possible together in a log. It's awkward and nobody likes it. Yesterday I got my own log (Brit bailed as this one tends to be on the wetter side and the rest of the group was suffering through a ride on Green Lantern so that a few members of the groups could get their first-and-last-ever rides on it. F*ck that). It was awesome! Please load one group per log forever like every other park. Anyway, I forgot how good this flume was. Also, it's really cool riding what's basically a brand-new Arrow log flume since they've replaced every section of the ride at this point over the last 5 years or so. - Has it been mentioned that the kiddy coaster is currently being painted right near Nitro's first drop in clear-view of everyone? I'd absolutely put my money on our 2022 addition being a combination of new and re-branded kids rides in a new kids area. I know that this will probably draw some complaints, but it will fill a very clear need and would be a really smart addition after a giant new coaster that forced the closure of so many kids rides. - We tried and failed twice to ride Zumanjaro while Kingda Ka was running but we saw it happen tons of times throughout the day. - We heard a few ops mention that the park was crazy-understaffed but you wouldn't know it. Basically every food stand was open, every ride was open, Skyway was running both sides and the Parachutes were running every single chute which never happens. Flume and Rapids were both open. All upcharge rides were even open. Great job, Six Flags! - I forgot how great Nitro runs in the summer. We're not used to riding it when it's above 35 degrees but that airtime hill after the hammerhead brings it. - I'm not an anti-masker. I appreciate that masks have allowed us to do go to parks, travel and live our lives throughout a global pandemic BUT I'm glad they're gone outdoors now. Walking around a theme park without a mask on felt incredible. Yesterday was the first time in a long time that the world felt totally normal. (Photo stolen from Josh) PS: nobody cares about this but I'm still mad about it and this is my soapbox so whoever thought of closing the car lanes northbound the entire length of the Jersey Turnpike on a Sunday night the weekend before Memorial Day when it was 90 degrees all weekend for scheduled construction is a total jackass. Big-brain moves right there. If you're visiting the park in the next few weeks check the traffic app before you leave if heading northbound. You might have to do something dumb like take 295 or 1 north from Trenton. Don't do what we did and just assume that the Turnpike will be fine.

Because they have to pay everyone $20 an hour now...

This popped up as a sponsored ad on my FB feed, but I am hoping this is what we're going to start seeing on local TV. Love that they're going with this (dark/demonic) marketing angle. https://www.facebook.com/sixflagsgreatadventure/videos/500971071094116/

Grona Lund has just announced a major new expansion, anticipated to open in 2024! https://www.gronalund.com/2024 The press release is only available in Swedish, but here are the highlights: New amusement area with 25 percent of land and roof surfaces designed with trees and vegetation and a park-like character Potential new attraction with an overall height of 45 meters "Classic amusement romance" with new attractions at ground level Public bridge / beach promenade Architecture borrowing from historic buildings around the area This post will be updated if and when an English press release is published.

Todays fact is, the park had a Mule Go Round. I just wanted an excuse to post this picture. In 25 years it's the best picture of the ride I have seen.

Just get Blue Streak running and that's all I need to return...

Sad news, the park is reopening soon. (May 22nd)

I haven't done one of these in a LONG time. If this isn't in the right forum I apologize. I've been riding roller coasters for 25 plus years. My current credit count is 331! My family got really lucky last year. We went to Disney World right before COVID shut it down. Literally we got home 4 days before everything got closed. Since COVID even when stuff slowly started opening, we stayed away. My hobbies (apart from coasters) is watching sports (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA) I root for the Yankees, Rangers, Jets, Sixers, Temple (football), Villanova (basketball). I also enjoy playing video games, watching movies, reading, fishing as well as spending time outside. I have a 4 1/2 year old daughter and a newborn son (less than 3 weeks). Happily married to my wife for 7 years. My oldest is finally tall enough for some coasters. The only coaster she's been on is Goofy's Barnstormer (prior to this trip). She loves rides & I can't wait to bring her to more parks now that things are slowly becoming normal. I live in South Jersey, a theme park hotspot. I plan on using this thread to post all of my trips this year. If you give me a read, thanks! Storybook Land 5/20: Don't go out of your way to come here. This place is for KIDS. I'm talking 0-10. They do have 1 credit: Bubbles: the Coaster. A small family style coaster. The place has been in operation since 1955. They do have a cool Christmas lights display that I recommend (given the time of year). Today was a good day. Not too hot for an end of May day. Park wasn't crowded either. My daughter got on 20 plus rides so we definitely got our money's worth. She did NOT like the coaster said it was too fast. On to the photos: The front entrance. Rock Spin Roll Snow White's house. Bubbles: the coaster! Not a new credit today. Random scenery. More Bubbles. My daughter's favorite lol.

it's almost like they don't care about 2 train operations, and never have at Darien Lake

After they finish removing this they should complete the Riddler's Revenge area ride-removal trifecta then...

Here is a press release from the court In short the court found no grounds for rejecting the zoning plan due to noise pollution, faults in the environmental consequence report, beach protection etc. Which all are the usual suspects. Instead it has been rejected because Djurgården, the island on which Gröna Lund is situated, has a special legal protection as a "National city park". The court states that the new area together with Gröna Lund of today would be to dominating in the cultural historical and park areas around Gröna Lund. Again, I'm not sure that the higher court will come to the same conclusion as this specific law isn't tested that often, and the area used to be an amusement park before becoming a parking lot. City of Stockholm has all documents regarding the zoning plan available for download on their homepage

I'm hopeful that this $20/hour thing goes over so well that the park is able to realize some actual value from paying the employees more and it results in drastically improved operations and in park spending. After all, "with so many gold passes out there", you'd think they need to have people spending money as frequently as possible, which they can't do if they are in line for food for an hour at a time. Wishful thinking...but I'd like to go that last scheduled full week of operations and hope the park isn't as much of a disaster by then.

This year's big addition. The local contracting company who constructed it got free single day admission tickets, so that should increase attendance by 7. On another note, we only made it 24 days into the month before a new post! That's only 2 days behind April!

It's been awhile since I've been on the log flume now but we use to just ask nicely if we could have our own log when they tried to group us and were always accommodated but it probably makes a difference though that we only ever go on the ride if there's no line which makes even less sense for them to group people. I agree with you though and hopefully this is the norm going forward forever now, it's just simply too cramped to be stuck with completely random people.

I mean it's just an artists rendering for an expansion that's several years away, but that sure looks like one of the newer Vekoma's, like Lech Coaster. If that's the case man that's a heck of an addition to a park that's universally loved by just about everyone. Great to see this place continue to grow, this looks fantastic.

Yeah Bert - luckily there is a lot that he can do and enjoy. I've spent more time on the Antique Cars in the last year and a half than I spent on them in the last 30 years!

So long as the Thirst Pony is not affected, so be it.

BIG announcement, eh? Are they getting a Zoltar?

It's nice to see investments made into the water park, and Hook's Lagoon has been in bad shape for awhile. Buttt this looks like a downgrade.

I've been exercising for over a week now, every day. . and lost 3lbs. only 3, but I'll take it!

Thanks for posting, it's good to see decent quality footage and that shows that it seems more often than not they're actually timed to run together. I wasn't even sure in the earlier video whether it had riders on or whether it was just testing.

It's not my YouTube channel. Also sorry I didn't see the post from a few days ago.

It's always so awkward when someone who rarely posts here comes on with some OMFG BrEaKinG NeWs hypefest without bothering to read the last few pages of a thread to see if its been talked about alrea.... oh you're a Youtube'r looking to plug your channel. Got it. Carry on...

Great news. They finally got permission from the state to run Zumanjaro and Kingda Ka at the same time. No more staggered operations. Here's a vid that was posted today. I linked directly to the timestamp where you can see it in action. If it doesn't automatically go to the time it starts at 7:29. This is not my video btw.

I guess they are trying to prevent lawsuits, but cannot imagine it would hold up in court anyway if you willingly went to a public place. Other than that I am opting out of this obviously unwinnable discussion

face it Kim.. you're a troublemaker. that's why I like hanging out with you can't wait for 7 weeks from now at Kings Island - we're gonna have a blast!

I don't think these jobs are meant to be long-term careers and for the target demographic of employees they are looking for, it's great money. Full time college student with a killer summer job? Yes, please!! If I didn't have an age factor, I'd go now!! ;0) *CP Coaster voice* Thank you for riding and enjoy the rest of your day here at Cedar Point! I got that down;0) HOWEVER.....at my age I would tell them to go eff themselves the first time they decided to be shitty with me. Younger people tolerate that crap more than older people. I've been over the road for far too long and I'm over it. I never experienced that when I worked at CP, though....just the one time when the big boss decided he didn't care if I had an emergency at home...I needed to stay and work. I told him to F-OFF and I left. LOL

They really went all out with those photo-op setups. I love it! Headed back to Knott's on Monday and can't wait! The Wacky Soapbox Racers pop-up made me head to YouTube to check out some old footage of that ride and it looked like so much fun. Totally the unique kind of thing I wish more parks had held onto over the years. Now that we're in the age of "Nostalgia Sells," I'd love to see Knott's install an updated version at some point. ...right after they put in that Giga.

The more days KI hits capacity, the less days we have to wait for that modern multilooper filling Vortex's giant dirt plot... right?

It really does sound like times have changed since I worked there. That was in 93. Back then, it is where college students flocked to..it was a HUGE social event for us. We didn't get paid a ginormous amount of money and no OT (due to being seasonal), but as I said, it was a social thing and most college students didn't have car payments, car insurance, mortgages, etc....many had parents paying tuition, car insurance, etc so whatever they made, they pocketed it (aside from dorm rent and food). I had a car there but many did not..... we had a decent night life (TGIFridays was at the entrance of the causeway) amongst other things that centered around the park/beaches/put in bay. It was THE job to have back then. It's different now. I think mentality is a bit different. My daughter is 16 and most of her friends don't work and have their parents supply everything for them. Why would they want to work? I wouldn't want to! It's unfortunate because the real world hits HARD when you step into it. Mortgage, car insurance, health insurance...and you pay it or you don't have it. Period. I told my daughter when she gets old enough to go to Cedar Point to work to do it. You can't argue that it isn't great experience. You work your butt off but depending upon your position, you learn some valuable people-skills, money skills, customer service skills......oh wait. That last one doesn't exist, anymore. When school is out in a few weeks here, I told my daughter she WILL work or she won't drive (insurance/car), she won't be going to movies, etc with friends, etc and so on. It's a hard lesson, but a very valuable one. But, for $20/hour, I would flock there NOW to work! $20/hr to be a sweeper?? Yes, please. No people to deal with. You do your job and you are left alone (I dealt with people...front desk Sand Castle Suites Hotel). But, i am not local and I have an age factor soooooooo.....but, maybe they wouldn't care at this point??? ;0) LOL

Look dude, you're being an ass. I don’t care how you feel about masks, and I don't care what you do at a Six Flags park. I do care that you have been actively encouraging people on Six Flags threads to break Six Flags rules. When you are invited to someone's house and they ask you to take your shoes off in the mudroom, you don't ask "Is that a requirement or a recommendation?" You're a guest, and you do it just because your hosts invited you. You know this. Quit being an ass.

Well it went if anything a bit better than expected. Arrived 10:15 and sure enough people were there already but they were letting us in already, which was nice. It also hit me no one paid for parking. Least at that time. With platinum I wouldn't have anyway but yeah people were just going through, no one was even at the booths. So that was interesting. Naturally waited for Fury. The line itself was quite short honestly but the ops were slow, took about 45 mins and by this point line was huge so did a quick loop of the park. Nabbed Copperhead Strike, Afterburn, Intimidator before grabbing lunch. All the lines were short but slow moving. Strike was the quickest honestly. I get it, it's opening day. This is precisely why I don't do this lol But amazingly after swinging back to Fury and seeing that it was moving quicker I hopped in line and though it was longer physically, took only 30 mins. After this I had an amazing stretch where the wait was like 10-15 mins. No joke. Did 4 in a row for 6 on the day. Given how it started, no FL etc I cannot complain! Also having no idea how ops really work in the nitty gritty I wonder how much impact people have. Honestly, there were quite a lot of people not listening, paying no attention, a walk of shame on near every ride which is a frequency I've never seen, and in one case some people after being almost yelled at by the op "You cant leave stuff in the station" and to please get off the ride and just refusing, to the point where the op said "All 3 trains are waiting, you are holding everything up" and they still refused...some dude on line volunteered to hold their stuff. Yeesh. Also two enthusiasts (besides hearing their convo, we can always just tell...) kept hogging the B&M rows to themselves. Plopped down one on each end, and ofc no one is gunna test sitting between em. Maybe I've gotten so used to FL and zipping through I've never realized how much hassle people cause. That said for opening day not sure if it was thaaaat crowded. I ducked out around 4ish to head to Doswell for KD tomm but yeah not a bad day for a few hours on season opener. Should also say: I enjoyed Copperhead Strike more than last time. I was pretty meh about it but this visit, idk why but it was better. A little more punchy and whippy and this was before noon. Intimidator still a bit of an underappreciated gem, Afterburn is great and Fury.....nothing needs to be said. Though after 2 once it was really warmed up. My god, I forgot how fast that thing is. Like the low dive before the big helix almost couldn't keep my eyes open. What a ride. Then the rest....I didn't bother lol Carowinds has to be one of the most unequal parks out there like what a strong top 4 then plunges off a cliff.

Cedar Point should pay people a premium to work there. Unless you love the industry and have aspirations of moving up within it, why else would you work at Cedar Point? - For most jobs, there are no benefits. - Your hours are inconsistent and range from being overworked in the summer to barely working at all in the fall. - Your job ends on November 1st, at which time (if you live in the area) you have to look for a job at the same time as everyone else who just lost their job at Cedar Point. Then if you find one and get settled there you have to quit again next year to apply for a job you already had that you’ll lose again on November 1st and repeat process. ... or you can work retail in Sandusky in heat / ac with more stable hours and not have to deal with any of that. I feel that it’s absolutely worth paying people a premium to have to deal with all of that bullshit. Most of that is not Cedar Point’s fault, but as an employee who could work absolutely anywhere right now, who’s-fault-it-is isn’t really your concern. Everyone is hiring, their gig sucks in a lot of ways unless you care about the industry but most of their employees probably don’t and they don’t have the creativity of a chain like Six Flags where they can find a way to make it work so this is what they have to do now. Cedar Point could do something like Six Flags Coaster Power Hours on those days where they only staff 15 rides, open a few select food stands and get thousands of people to show up but nope, they'd rather close entirely. lol

I'm only 35 years young. I'm already battling with mid-day park fatigue, and I have to account for a full day of recovery after drinking a few beers and eating shit food.

We spent the weekend at Universal/IoA on Sat/Sun/Mon. In that time, we managed 15 rides on Velocicoaster. A handful of front and back seat rides, including a few at night (which is just epic!). I can say that this is a ride that can hardly get any better. From the theme, trains, layout, setting, etc... It's just stunning. I can't really say which part is my favorite, to be honest. It just has so many strong points that you're picking at straws. The paddock section is just great fun, especially with those raptors which are far more effective than I thought they would be (for being stationary). But the audio effects really amplifies them. Plenty of head/hand shoppers with the rock formations. That second element, the dive loop, is just crazy-go-nuts! Fun little "Easter Eggs" too, such as the dino chow and the paradactyl eggs on top of the tallest rock formation if you look closely. Airtime is everywhere. The first launch isn't too shabby strength wise, it does it's job. The second half is like a completely different coaster... "Turn it to 11!" is what comes to mind. Top hat is fantastic of course, the view from the top makes it seem much higher than it is. It's beautiful to look around, especially at dusk/night. One of the best views on a coaster that I have been on, for sure. Plenty of ejector air in the back of the train, no question there. It's hella-intense. I absolutely love the following stall element, especially in the back (right side). It's different from the stall on say, Goliath at SFGam of course, but it's just as fun in it's own way. It's just, aggressive. The helix portion following is (another) highlight for me, actually. It's great fun and a perfect mix of forces with it's pops of airtime, the reverse banking (love that so much on this!) and of course the hop/roll finale. The final heartline is as crazy as you read about, being ejected out toward the water at such high speed is quite epic. That last S-bend hop as well is extremely intense and when you hit the brakes, you're kind of just like "wtf". I heard nothing but "this is the best coaster I ever been on!" or "wow, that's insane!" among many other things from everyone riding... Did not hear a single bad thing or criticism from anyone at any point. Everybody loves it! I enjoyed my final rides as much as my very first rides... If it wasn't for the bruises I developed on my thighs, probably would have snagged a few more rides... But it literally got to the point that it was becoming painful from all the airtime from riding too many times in a short duration. For example, the first night we managed 4 rides, which was fine with no issue. But the next day? After about 3 rides (7 total that day) the pain kicked in. I had to start bracing myself as best I could but there is no point... So yeah, it will leave it's mark with enough rides. I still can feel a bit of soreness a few days later! I find this ride extremely reridable, the thigh bruising aside... Many rides I can't really 'marathon' anymore (nor do I really care to), as I will begin to get queasy usually depending on the ride, but not this one. For as super intense as it is, it doesn't bother me one bit. Compare to say Steel Vengeance by the time you hit the brakes after two rides I'm done for (mainly because those horrible final bunny hops...). So that's a huge thumbs up from me. So yes, it did become one of my favorite coasters of all time, no doubt about that. I don't really have a "top 5" or anything, but it's certainly there if I did. It absolutely exceeded my high expectations. Big, big thumbs up to the team at Universal that made this ride a reality. On a side note, finally got on Hagrids after a few years of avoiding due to long lines or no luck with virtual-queue on the past trip... Waited about 30 minutes and it's a really fun ride, but.... but.... Dragon's was a FAR better ride in every way, sorry. One ride was good enough for me, unless the line is short I don't see myself going out of my way to go ride it again. Oh, and Bourne Stuntacular at Universal is quite insane... Had no expectation given what was there prior, but was really blown away by the technology going on there. Very cool stuff, don't miss out on that like we almost did (yet again!).

I stand corrected on Daily Operations. Yeah, it can be the case all summer long. Last year was pretty bad, but that was with reduced capacities on the rides. This year, we're back to full capacity, but we also have a literal fuck ton of people that are eager to get back into the world going to parks. That said, the last time I was at the park without Fast Lane was mid-week in 2017, and I was there on a Tuesday and standby queue's were "reasonable" at an hour for Maverick or Millie. I'll never do it again...Fast Lane+ at this park is just a no-brainer in my opinion.

Since when is it okay to generalize an country of 300 million on a fucking roller coaster fourm? The are caring people and assholes in America just like any other country. Rode Skyrush for the first time since opening year, I hated it then but found it much more enjoyable this time, and it still felt very intense. Wonder what they did do it.

Thanks for your prejudice, but I'd be willing to bet it all that I've done more caring acts within the past year, with tangible results, than you might in a 100 lifetimes. I'm not easily offended, but you just shit on a lot of people in here who are American, and believe it or not, caring people.

Last bit of this Midwest trip in 07 was spent at Kings Island. Beast at night was a lot of fun. It was kind of challenging to get fun pictures from a lot of rides back then. so you will have to do it with these Thanks for reading, should i continue with updates like this or is nobody interested? such a weird ride. still bummed i did not make it to korea in time. These rides are fun (when done right) most people have a picture like this another weird ride. time to cool down a little talking about weird rides.. grin fun for all ages yeah, 2 trains that's all for today (and midwest 07)

I have no clue what kind of mental gymnastics people are doing to make a perfectly flat huge park with tons of space a "challenging location". They just really want this coaster at Cedar Point so they can get off it and immediately film a hype vlog where they declare it the 7th best coaster in the park.

I don’t know who needs to hear this but stop doing this: so you can make people stand in this twice as long in the name of social distancing. Just load every seat.

^That's an excellent point. Can we get them to remove Trump out of Hall of Presidents since he's super racist!!!??

Glad to see Magic Kingdom bring back the submarine voyage after all these years.

I don't know why you're bashing the media on this one, it feels justified. While the boat didn't exactly sink, being knee deep in water that's known to be infested with alligators and hippos (which are known to be very territorial and kill approximately 500 people per year) is nothing to joke about. Hopefully Disney rectifies this.